If the Bona Fide Need Rule is the “third rail” of government contracting, the Antideficiency Act (ADA) is the entire power plant exploding. It is the most robust and feared statute in federal fiscal law. As a Contracting Officer, you are the gatekeeper of the Treasury. Your signature obligates the taxpayer. If you sign a … Read more
There are few phrases that make a Contracting Officer cringe quite like this one: “Ma’am, the contractor already finished the work, we just need the paperwork to pay them.” In the private sector, this is a Tuesday. In the federal government, this is a violation of regulations that requires a painful, highly scrutinized legal process … Read more
In our previous discussion on exercising options, we established that you must determine exercising the option is the “most advantageous method” for the Government, price considered. But how do you actually prove that? When you awarded the base contract three years ago, the price was fair. But markets shift. Inflation spikes, or technology makes old … Read more
In the world of government contracting, exercising an option isn’t just about clicking a button because the Program Manager likes the contractor. It is a formal contractual action that requires specific authority and a written Determination and Findings (D&F). If you do not meet the strict requirements outlined in the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), you … Read more
In my time as a Contracting Officer, I’ve seen more funding modifications rejected by legal for one specific reason than any other: misidentifying a service as severable or non-severable. It sounds like a semantic debate, but in the world of appropriations law, it is the difference between a valid contract and an Anti-Deficiency Act violation. … Read more
The success or failure of a contract is almost always determined before the solicitation is even hit. It happens during the requirements definition phase. If you describe the requirement poorly, you will get a poor result. In government contracting, we generally use one of three documents to tell industry what we need: the Statement of … Read more
If you ask a junior specialist the difference between “multi-year” and “multiple year” contracts, they might look at you like you’re splitting hairs. But if you sit in the Contracting Officer’s chair, you know that these two terms represent entirely different legal authorities, funding strategies, and risks. In the world of Air Force and Defense … Read more
If you take the logic from my previous post on Non-Competitive clearance and try to apply it directly to a Competitive Source Selection, you are going to get confused fast. The terminology is the same, but the “gates” move. In a sole-source environment, we are clearing the negotiation strategy. In a competitive environment, we are … Read more
If there is one area where new buyers and even seasoned Contracting Officers get tripped up during their first major source selection, it is the distinction between Business Clearance and Contract Clearance. In the world of simplified acquisitions, you often don’t see these distinct steps. You negotiate, you sign, you move on. But in the … Read more